This one feels like a bit of a re-announcement but over time could well amount to more. Chip maker Intel and handset maker Nokia held a joint press call today to tell the world about a new “long term relationship” to share R&D and key technologies to develop a new mobile platform or range of devices that “go beyond today’s smartphones, notebooks and netbooks”.
Oh and said devices will be powered by future Intel processors, of course.
Which, as The Register points out, sounds a lot like the Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) Intel has been to touting for years, and very similar to Nokia’s own – albeit non-Intel based – N810 Internet tablet (see my review).
On the day that Intel secured the right from Psion to legally use the trademarked term Netbook, rival chip designer Qualcomm is pushing a “new” category of mobile device, which the company is calling a Smartbook. As a marketing term, like the Netbook before it, the Smartbook definitely has legs. It’s new, catchy and yet derivative enough of existing product categories so as not to scare off consumers. But beyond marketing, what exactly separates a Smartbook from a Netbook and other ultra-mobile laptops before it?
Here’s Qualcomm’s own definition:
Smartbooks are a new class of devices running mobile operating systems that bridge the functional divide between smartphones and laptops, delivering the best aspects of a smartphone experience on a larger-display form factor. Constantly connected via 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS , smartbooks are ultra-portable, personalizable, easy-to-use and last all day on a single battery charge.
In other words a Smartbook is similar to a Netbook, except it runs a mobile operating system rather than a conventional desktop OS, such as Windows or one of the various desktop flavors of Linux.
While I remain skeptical of Linux’s chances to overtake Windows as the Netbook OS of choice, that isn’t stopping Intel who continue to invest in a Microsoft alternative. The latest version of its own Linux distro called Moblin sees the light weight OS undergo a complete User Interface overall optimized for Netbooks and MIDs that typically sport a 7-10 inch screen. It’s the UI, says Intel, that will be key to Linux’s client-side adoption, and on that note Moblin 2.0 appears to take much of its inspiration from the next generation of smart phones.
Take this for what it’s worth considering who paid for the research, but according to a recent survey 76 percent of US consumers who are in the market for a new HDTV would value having access to Internet widgets on their television. The research was carried out by the Diffusion Group on behalf of Intel, who in partnership with Yahoo are pushing the idea of Internet-connected televisions in a big way through the launch of the Yahoo Widget Channel (see video below), a platform designed to make it easy for developers and television manufacturers to add a ‘widget bar’ to HDTVs.
Unsurprisingly, of the 2,000 respondents who took part in the online survey, more than half (54.8 percent) said they “value being able to link to TV program websites while watching a favorite show so they can simultaneously interact with Web-based content while viewing the show.”
January 5th, 2009 | Posted in Net TV | Comments Off
With the Consumer Electronics Show just around the corner, it’s traditional for companies to push out a flurry of pre-show announcements, hopefully clearing the way for more exciting news. Today, a number of industry players announced partnerships relating to getting Internet content onto the TV – a theme that will, once again, be prevalent at CES.
Roku and Amazon
Roku’s set-top box will soon be adding support for the streaming version of Amazon’s on-demand video service. Previously, the hardware was a one trick pony, with Netflix ‘Watch Instantly’ functionality only. From the press release: “Beginning in early 2009, the Roku Player… will offer access to Amazon Video On Demand’s more than 40,000 commercial-free movies and television shows enabling Roku customers for the first time to watch new release movies titles instantly.”
I’m getting a case of deja vu. Apparently, 2009 will be the year that Internet ‘widgets’ come to the TV.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to be held in Las Vegas next month, Samsung, Toshiba and other manufacturers will unveil new televisions that bring Internet content into the living room through support for the “Widget Channel”, a platform for Internet-connected TVs developed in partnership by Yahoo and Intel (see ‘Yahoo, Intel attempt to solve Web content on television with “Widget Channel”). Of course, Internet-connected TVs were also the talk of CES in 2008, with Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic and Google making announcements. This time, however, Yahoo and Intel think they’ve got it right.
Yahoo and Intel today announced they are working together to bring dynamic Web content to your television set through the use of widgets. It’s an interesting idea.
As many pundits have noted, companies large and small have attempted to bring Web content to the TV for years. All the efforts have failed for a variety of reasons: navigation issues, trying to replicate an entire Web page on the TV during programming, the introduction of the browser, keyboard, and mouse in the living room, and so on.
Yahoo thinks it may have the answer with the Widget Channel, which will allow developers to create small mini-programs (or widgets) that will be displayed on the bottom of a TV screen. These widgets offer on-screen access to everything from your pictures on Flickr, to interactions with friends on Twitter or Facebook, real-time sports scores, weather updates, stock prices, online movie rentals, and so on.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Netbook, an emerging new product category of low-cost and ultra-portable notebooks. But it seems many in the PC industry aren’t.
Initially targeted at the education market or those wanting a third machine, Netbooks are resonating with a much broader market — and not just because of their lower price point compared to more traditional and higher specced sub-notebooks. Despite years of industry propaganda, consumers are wising up to the fact that they don’t have to step on to the processor upgrade treadmill. Instead, in an age where more and more of our applications and data resides in the cloud (on remote servers, rather than stored locally), a machine with Internet connectivity and one that is powerful enough to run a modern web browser – that’s a Netbook by the way – is often all that we need.
May 15th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile, Net TV | Comments Off
A long standing rumor that just won’t go away: Apple is working on a tablet computer of sorts. Only this time the source is Intel, no less, following comments made by the chip maker’s Manging Director for Central Europe Hannes Schwaderer.
Described as being a future member of the iPhone family, only slightly larger, the new offering will make use of Intel’s Atom processor, designed for a product category the company calls Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). However, while the Atom is certainly low-powered, delivering a very efficient power-per-watt ratio compared to previous designs, in it’s existing ‘Silverthorne’ incarnation it isn’t suitable for cell phones — suggesting that Apple’s new device will be significantly different to the existing iPhone and iPod touch line. Instead, think of larger, more tablet-like devices, or conceivably, anything all the way up to low-cost sub notebooks such as Asus’ Eee PC.
This one feels like a bit of a re-announcement but over time could well amount to more. Chip maker Intel and handset maker Nokia held a joint press call today to tell the world about a new “long term relationship” to share R&D and key technologies to develop a new mobile platform or range of devices that “go beyond today’s smartphones, notebooks and netbooks”.
With the Consumer Electronics Show just around the corner, it’s traditional for companies to push out a flurry of pre-show announcements, hopefully clearing the way for more exciting news. Today, a number of industry players announced partnerships relating to getting Internet content onto the TV – a theme that will, 
I’m getting a case of deja vu. Apparently, 2009 will be the year that Internet ‘widgets’ come to the TV.
It’s no secret that 
A long standing rumor that just won’t go away: Apple is working on a tablet computer of sorts. Only this time the source is Intel, no less, following 
